Summary of the FCRO Stakeholder Engagement on the Pan-Canadian Information Centre

Ottawa, June 23, 2009

Background

Budget 2009 committed $1.5 million over two years in support of the Foreign Credentials Referral Office (FCRO) so that it may undertake the development of a website (Pan-Canadian Information Centre) to showcase the foreign credential recognition activities under way across Canada.

The objective of this initiative is to provide a one-stop information site (i.e., a Web-based platform) for foreign credentials referral (FCR) activities. This will give Canadian organizations the opportunity to leverage and capitalize on promising practices across Canada to advance their own FCR needs.

As a first step in developing this initiative, the FCRO organized a workshop in Ottawa on June 23, 2009, with key stakeholders to solicit their views on:

1. determining the scope of an FCR Pan-Canadian Information Centre;
2. exploring how best to harness Web-based technology to share information;
3. examining ways of engaging partners and stakeholders.

1. Scope

To set the stage for a discussion on the scope of the Information Centre, Elizabeth McIsaac and Kevin McLellan from the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC) presented the work undertaken by TRIEC on an employer’s best practices website. In part, the presentation highlighted the work undertaken to build the framework and leverage the website, and the best practices for online sharing.

A wide variety of views were voiced in terms of the needs, gaps, spectrum of content and type of material that could be included on the Information Centre. In light of the lessons learned by TRIEC and the feedback received from the participants, it was recommended that the FCRO:

• manage expectations by clearly articulating, through outreach and marketing, the benefits of the Information Centre;
• ensure that the content reflects the needs of stakeholders;
• determine the breadth and depth of the content (this could potentially include credentials and qualifications recognition, bridging programs and language assessment); and
• clarify who would be the intended users of the Pan-Canadian Information Centre (the audience could potentially include employers, regulatory bodies, all levels of government, immigrant-serving agencies, sector councils, assessment agencies, post-secondary institutions, and possibly others). The participants suggested it might be preferable to start with only one or a few of these in the initial stages of developing the Centre.

In addition, the participants agreed that the proposed website should:

• be user friendly;
• showcase existing initiatives;
• offer a single access point for projects, tools and other FCR information;
• use a standard or a consistent classification of information;
• encourage cross-fertilization of material;
• enable users to search and easily find information; and
• provide opportunities for improved networking.

Given the broad range of possible users, the participants supported a phased-in development and implementation approach for the Information Centre.

2. Functionality

To set the stage for a discussion of online approaches to best practices, Nik Nanos and Pierre Killeen from Nanos Research presented Web functionality employed by existing websites that feature information on best practices.

Pierre presented some examples and possibilities for a Web 2.0 approach in which the online resources of the Centre are presented in formats that are more interactive. These include a comment feature to enable users to add their experiences with the tools and resources of the Centre, contact information for each practice, and a log-in function by which users can join an online community of practice.

The participants strongly endorsed the use of interactive elements as part of the Information Centre and suggested using the materials in the “library” of the website to drive communications and interaction among users, and to create communities of practice. Other examples of elements that the participants indicated could be considered include:

• template: creating a standard input form to facilitate the collection and dissemination of stakeholders’ FCR initiatives;
• reviews: providing an opportunity for those who use materials from the Centre to comment on them, how effective they are, the kinds of conditions under which they have been used and with what results;
• ratings: a simpler version of reviewing is to allow users to rate the usefulness of the materials. Some participants cautioned that this approach may oversimplify some very important substantive content;
• a question-and-answer section where users can post questions on issues they are dealing with and seek advice or suggestions from others in the network of Centre users;
• e-mail lists: users could register for various e-mail lists to share information, stay informed of events and publications, and ask each other questions;
• webinars: Web-based seminars could be offered to users to demonstrate how to use some of the resources in the Centre and share emerging practices before they’re documented; and
• social media: networks such as Twitter and Facebook can also be used to share information among specific groups of users.

In order to create a user-friendly design, the website will need to be easy to navigate, with a clear, uncluttered, simple visual design to facilitate easy communication and information sharing.

3. Stakeholder Engagement

An objective of the workshop was to explore ways to engage stakeholders. Throughout the day, the participants reiterated the need to be engaged in the development of the Information Centre. This will also enable FCRO to create new partnerships and to enhance new synergies that were initiated at the workshop.

The FCRO will keep stakeholders informed of the ongoing work of the website through user requirement consultations, progress reporting and focus testing in order to ensure the right level of engagement in moving the Information Centre forward.

Recurring Themes of the Workshop

Recurring themes emerged during the workshop that could guide the development of the Pan-Canadian Information Centre. These included:

• provide multiple routes to access materials on the website (e.g., by topic, by sector, by stage of integration, etc.);
• define the criteria that’ll determine what information may be posted;
• enable the participation of multiple contributors: gather practices and tools from many organizations in the targeted sectors;
• pursue a segmented and integrated approach: different elements of the website, the marketing plan, etc., would be designed to meet the needs of different sectors (sectoral councils, regulatory bodies, immigrant-serving organizations, etc.) while still encouraging cross-fertilization among sectors;
• ensure the Information Centre is interactive and that users can contribute, comment or connect with one another; and
• solicit continuous feedback, evaluation and improvement.

Next Steps

1. Conduct an environmental scan of Canadian and international approaches to sharing best practices and explore how existing Internet technology may be leveraged to deliver the Information Centre.
2. Develop initial user requirements based on the feedback received at the June 23 workshop.
3. Continue stakeholder engagement in the development of the website.

Conclusion

The FCRO thanks all the participants for their time and input, and will keep them engaged in future developments.